Certain powdered and granulated materials, including some pharmaceutical products, are susceptible to irregularly-shaped and randomly-sized clumps (or clusters) forming therein as a result of coming into contact with moisture while the powdered products are being used, stored or transported. The moisture may enter the container by gradual diffusion through microscopic gaps in the walls and seals of the containers, and/or may be trapped inside the containers when the containers are originally filled and sealed. When a user tilts the container at an angle in order to pour some of the powdered or granulated product out of the mouth of the container and into a dosing or measuring device, such as a measuring cup or spoon, the tilting action causes a stream of powdered or granulated product to flow out of the mouth of the storage or transport container and into the dosing or measuring device. As would be natural for such a pouring operation, the user will typically watch and observe the size, angle and shape of the stream, along with the level of powdered or granulated product already present in the dosing or measuring device, in order to judge the apparent flow rate of the powdered or granulated product exiting the tilted container and to estimate whether and when to adjust the angle of tilt on the container in order to avoid spilling and wasting the product and/or over- and under-filling the dosing or measuring device. If the powdered or granulated product is a medication, over- or under-filling the dosing or measuring device could lead to over- or under-dosing the medication, which could have severe consequences for medical patients.
When the stream of powdered or granulated product flowing from the mouth of the container contains irregularly-shaped and randomly-sized clumps, however, the clumps tend to cause random and unpredictable changes in the size, angle and shape of the stream as it exits the mouth of the container. Moreover, as the stream of powdered or granulated product passes out of the mouth of the container, the clumps can come into contact with the interior surfaces of the mouth of the container just before exiting the container, which may cause some of the clumps to get caught on the interior surfaces and temporarily obstruct or restrict the rate at which the stream flows out of the mouth of the container. In addition, some of the clumps in the stream may collide with other clumps in the stream just as the clumps are exiting the container. The collisions may cause some of the clumps to break apart as they exit the container, further changing the size, angle and shape of the stream in random and unpredictable ways.
Thus, it has been observed that when a powdered or granulated product is poured from a container in a stream, the presence of irregularly-shaped and randomly-sized clumps in the stream, combined with the random catching, releasing, colliding and/or breaking apart of the clumps just as the clumps are exiting the mouth of the container, causes random and unpredictable variations in the size, angle and shape of the stream so that it becomes very difficult for the user to properly judge the rate of flow for the stream, and very difficult to estimate when the angle of tilt for the container should be increased or reduced so as to avoid under- or over-filling the dosing or measuring device.